Violin/Viola

Avner Finberg

Violin and Viola Instruction

Dr. Avner Finberg is an Israeli-American violinist and composer. Born in Tivon, Israel, he took his first violin lessons when he was eight years old. He studied violin in Haifa with Robert Canetti, and later in the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance with Hagai Shaham, one of the leading teachers in the country. He took masterclasses with Miriam Fried, Ivri Gitlis, Sergiu Schwartz, and Yonatan Berick, among others.

As a violinist, he performed as a soloist with orchestra and performed in chamber music concerts in venues in the US, Austria, Germany and Israel. He also specializes in contemporary music for violin, and he performed works by George Crumb, Arvo Pärt, Roberto Sierra and others. As an orchestra member he played in the Israel Philharmonic, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra, The Missouri Symphony, and The Binghamton Philharmonic, among others. He is a member of The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes.

As a violin teacher, he combines traditional methods of teaching violin with elements of the Suzuki method, depending on the students age and ability. He strives to give his students a love for music and a good foundation for their future musical education. He is also an emerging composer with considerable national and international exposure, and he holds a DMA in composition from Manhattan School of Music. His first opera, A Taste of Damnation, was performed as a special student project at Manhattan School of Music on April 2015, with a future performance with The Secret Opera in 2017. His music earned awards nationally and internationally, and was performed in the US, Israel, Germany, Austria, Ireland and The Philippines.